Watchtower History & Leaders

This category focuses primarily on the history of the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, its founders, leaders and major personalities.

The following articles document events, books, teachings and decisions the organization’s founders and their successors made, implemented and enforced. They guided the Watchtower and Jehovah’s Witnesses through the end of the 19th and all of the 20th centuries. While there is very little left of their original teachings and practices, those influences are still felt and frequently referenced. Most modern Jehovah’s Witnesses have little real knowledge of the origins of their religion but still hold many of the founders up as examples of “great and righteous men” who promoted “the truth” and acted “under the influence of Jehovah’s holy spirit.”

Note: Many of the documents and books mentioned in the following articles and elsewhere on this website can be found in our “DOCUMENTS LIBRARY.” Feel free to visit, read or download any of the documents archived in those archives.

[Please note: Some of the articles listed below may also appear within other category collections.]

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Before my transfer from the Engineering Department to the Writing Department in 1989, the architect designing a 30-story staff residence building (that was about to be built near the four Watchtower printery buildings) mentioned to me his need for a professional cost analysis system to be put into place for future building projects. He designed the buildings but the Accounting Department paid the bills.

In spite of all the prediction failures, most nineteenth-century Christian denominations taught that God would bring an end to an evil and selfish world in their century although details varied. Disagreements were plentiful as to when in that century the end would occur; nevertheless, all …

In 1991 Colin Quackenbush, one of the Watch Tower Society’s senior writers, told me in the privacy of his office about letters which the Society had received from “prominent and credible elders, not apostates” (that’s exactly what he said), who were concerned about the increase …

By Michael I Schiller and Trey Bundy They come to your door, but how much do you really know about Jehovah’s Witnesses? Our animation shows you some surprising stuff (you probably didn’t know) about the worldwide religion. Find out what else we revealed. …

Announcing a Website to Celebrate 1914 to 2014: The End of an Error for Jehovah’s Witnesses. On October 2, 1914, Charles Taze Russell, founder of the Watch Tower, announced that “The Gentile Times have ended!” None of his expectations about 1914 came true, but Jehovah’s …

In 1922, the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society was one of the first religious organizations to enter the commercial radio broadcasting field – a technology that was still in its infancy. Shortly after going out over the air on the initial broadcast, the Watch …

One would think that such prophetic failures would bring an end to speculative date-setting, but it did not. The fact is that some forty-years later, Jehovah’s Witnesses leaders used the 6,000-year theory in a formula that began with the year of creation, 4026 B.C.E., to …

Jehovah’s Witnesses recently added another property to their real estate portfolio. This property acquisition took place in spite of complaints in their publications and on their online video channel that the organization has suffered from a nagging shortage of funds. …

Ever wonder why the name, Watchtower, (one word) is sometimes written, Watch Tower, (two words)? Does it matter? What are the legal ramifications? What does the Watchtower have in common with the Peoples Pulpit Association of New York? The answers to these questions and more …

Former Witness and WT critic, Ronald Fry, couldn’t state it any better when he observed: “The pattern or modus operandi of the Watchtower Society has evolved over the years but has basically remained the same. The same magazine that counseled the Witnesses against looking to …

For nearly 36 years, Theodore (Ted) Jaracz was one of the most powerful members of Jehovah’s Witnesses Governing Body until he died at age 85 on Wednesday, June 9, 2010. Little is known of this man’s youth. In 1991, I was told by a Writing …

In a memorandum dated March 28, 1941, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation strongly suggested that Joseph F. Rutherford, then president of the Watchtower Society, be closely monitored and potentially arrested “…in the event of a national emergency.” J. Edgar Hoover (the FBI …

August 24, 2005 was a day of reflection for me after I learned that two more men were appointed to be part of the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses. I read the information on the Internet discussion board, Jehovahs-Witness Discussion Forum. The poster, who goes …

When “Judge” Rutherford visited New Zealand in 1938 he met a mostly hostile reception. As Rutherford was driven to the Auckland Town Hall to deliver a lecture, “…his attention was drawn to a newspaper placard bearing a distortion of the title of a lecture he had …

Let’s face it: “Judge” Joseph F. Rutherford is dead – along with his doctrines and influence. And so are the reasons for Jehovah’s Witnesses’ “house-to-house ministry.” In two articles published on Freeminds.org several years ago, I discussed the changes made to two major old Watch Tower doctrines …

By the time 1925 rolled in, Rutherford’s backpedaling about his predictions for that year was in high gear when he said in the February 15, 1925 Watch Tower: “No one may safely predict exactly what will take place, even within the next year; but God has given general indications in his Word of many things which are yet to come to pass. He has not specified exactly their chronological order…”

Russell taught that the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt was inspired by Jehovah God and used the pyramid’s measurements as a guide for much of the chronology in the Studies in the Scriptures volumes.* Rutherford credited the Pyramid to Satan the Devil calling the …

GETTING A CHILDREN BOOK FROM THE JUDGE, THEN ON TO BETHEL AND THE CIRCUIT WORK: One of my earliest memories is going to the St. Louis assembly in 1941 with my mother and grandmother and getting a copy of the book, Children, from Judge Rutherford. …

During much of his later life, former Governing Body member Raymond Franz was invited to speak before various groups and organizations around the world. He spoke with an eloquent and direct approach, but was never harsh or overly critical of those he disagreed with – …

Did you know how (in sworn testimony during the recent Australian Royal Commission hearing) Governing Body member Geoffrey Jackson responded to the question, “Do you see yourselves as Jehovah’s spokespeople on earth?” Jackson replied, “That, I think, would seem to be quite presumptuous to say …

How can we be sure Rutherford used the 6,000 year theory? Because of the dozens of times he mentioned it in Watch Tower literature. For instance, Rutherford wrote in the January 1, 1921 Watch Tower: The poor groaning creation has suffered oppression for more than …

Jehovah’s Witnesses are discouraged from doing extensive personal research into their modern-day history. Such action can cause a truth-seeking Witness to be labeled “apostate” and be shunned by family and friends. Yet, scrutiny of ancient Biblical history is allowable and thought to be important. So …

Long out of print, A.O. Hudson’s book Bible Students in Britain (1989) documents in detail the first 100 years of IBSA / Watchtower history in the British Isles. When a few used copies occasionally become available on Amazon.com, the sellers typically demand rather high prices (usually …

An heir to the Coca-Cola fortune, was one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. According to William P. Heath, Jr.’s testimony at the Olin Moyle trial in early 1940 (p. 1259), he became a JW in 1932. Before 1932, Heath testified that he didn’t belong to any organized …

In mid-April (2019), Barbara released a YouTube video that tried to clarify the Watchtower’s changing “Two Witness Rule.” Almost immediately upon its release, dozens of current and former Jehovah’s Witnesses questioned the legitimacy of Barbara’s understanding of the May 2019 Watchtower magazine article that announced …

In November of the year 1886, Charles Taze Russell wrote in the Preface of his new book, MILLENNIAL DAWN, of his intentions to publish a total of seven volumes under that name which would “… set forth the wondrous things of the divine plan” of …

In the spring of 1975, Frederick W. Franz, considered since the mid-1920s to be the Watchtower’s “official oracle,” stressed the urgency of the Christian preaching work during his public speeches. Why? Because he believed that 6,000 years of human history would end that next September …

Are you studying the Bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses? Or are you no longer one of Jehovah’s Witnesses? Or perhaps you are a Witness who is considering leaving the religion? Whatever your circumstances, do you assume that the Witnesses are probably right about the nearness of …

If you were once a Jehovah’s Witness, are you now concerned about worsening world conditions being a sign that soon Christ will return to the earth and bring about the end of the world? Although you may no longer believe in what JWs teach and …